When most people first learn about what intuitive eating stands for (unrestricted eating, mainly) they often think that intuitive eating is just another way to eat whatever you want, whenever you want with no regard for any type of structure or health.
While intuitive eating does abolish the restriction that is in place in most of our eating patterns, it is not a license to eat without regard for health. Lots of people who aren’t familiar with the steps of intuitive eating think things like, “I would just eat cookies all the time if I didn’t set limits for myself” or “all I’d ever want is junk.” And truthfully, that might be the case in the beginning. But that is because we first have to address the years that particular foods have been restricted. And it will go away.
So the other part that of intuitive eating that isn’t as popular or flashy as unrestricted eating is, is actually a bit of restricted eating! But not restricted because you can’t or shouldn’t eat something, but simply because you are so in touch with your internal cues that you actually can stop eating or choose not to eat something.
Let’s go through two examples.
- Putting a few bites away as leftovers when ordinarily it might have made sense to just finish them. This one can be tough to feel out because it really requires that you understand your needs and are in touch with your hunger and fullness cues. This can be especially difficult for those who grew up in a “clean your plate” household and were taught that uneaten food was wasteful and wrong. There is no rule that says you have to finish all the food on your plate no matter what. If you are feeling a comfortable level of fullness, you can choose to stop eating. A few more bites might put you over the edge into that uncomfortable territory. Leftover food will be available tomorrow (or heck, even later if you are still hungry!) and it’s completely fine to put food away even if it’s just a few bites.
- Having a small bite or square of chocolate and not the entire bar. Many people say to me “I can’t keep that in the house or else I will just eat it all.” Or, “I’d never be able to just break off a piece of a chocolate bar. I’d have to eat the entire thing or else I wouldn’t be satisfied.” And I am here to tell you that YOU CAN and YOU CAN + YOU WILL. When food is unavailable it becomes appealing. When foods that have been previously restricted are introduced as daily offerings, the appeal these foods have becomes less and less. The classic example is this: think back to childhood and something your parents told you you couldn’t have/do. How much more did you want to do it??? And when access to things was unrestricted, did you suddenly feel like you could take it or leave it? It’s the same thing with food. We want what we can’t have, and when we can have it all the time it’s just there and does not become an obsession.
These are just two examples but there are many more ways that intuitive eating is not “eat whatever you want all the time regardless.” There is still a regard for health and a deep understanding of why we are making the food decisions that we are.